Seriously Chelsea? Is there any point trying to make predictions if you are going to put out the reserves and then play that dreadfully against the worst side in the league? Rafa undoing all his good work at convincing Chelsea fans he is the right man for the job by going back to his old rotation strategy.

At 1/2/13 04:40 PM, Sentio wrote:
Seriously Chelsea? Is there any point trying to make predictions if you are going to put out the reserves and then play that dreadfully against the worst side in the league? Rafa undoing all his good work at convincing Chelsea fans he is the right man for the job by going back to his old rotation strategy.

I've never seen David Luiz play a worse game and I hope never to again. Not just him though, the whole team was rather shit, and how could you rest Mata and Hazard for an FA cup game against Southampton?? Yes, QPR are bottom of the league but that is the main priority and if he has learnt anything at Chelsea he would know not to underestimate how shit we are against them and how he could not make changes during half time, or around the 60th minute when he realised that the half time talk was not working. You start Mata. You bring him off for a rest when the team is winning comfortably.

At 1/2/13 07:46 PM, Gagsy wrote:
I've never seen David Luiz play a worse game and I hope never to again.

If I were you, I would hope to see Marin never play again. Overrated player, imo. I will never undestand why Chelsea bought him. He was shit, when played in Bremen, and he continues to play like shit, it seems. Also, he should've been sent off for that foul. :/

On an unrelated side note: I hate the winter break in the Bundesliga. >:(

So we are fast approaching the 'best' weekend in english football. For those teams in the competition and relishing a big money draw, I would agree, though for some of us it is a rare weekend with no football for their team :(.

Last year I set a challenge of who could pick the most/the biggest shock in the round. I'll post the list of fixtures, all you need to do is pluck out three games in which you feel a shock is on the cards. By shock, the winner must be at least a division below their opponent, or in the case of a Prem team one of the big four/five teams beaten by a relegation candidate (I'm looking at you Chelsea...).

At 1/3/13 09:48 AM, Sentio wrote:
So we are fast approaching the 'best' weekend in english football. For those teams in the competition and relishing a big money draw, I would agree, though for some of us it is a rare weekend with no football for their team :(.

Last year I set a challenge of who could pick the most/the biggest shock in the round. I'll post the list of fixtures, all you need to do is pluck out three games in which you feel a shock is on the cards. By shock, the winner must be at least a division below their opponent, or in the case of a Prem team one of the big four/five teams beaten by a relegation candidate (I'm looking at you Chelsea...).

Here's the list, pick away:

Single division difference (1 point)

Brighton and Hove Albion v Newcastle United

Newcastle have been rather shit lately. So not entirely impossible (they'll go and thump em 5-0 now I've said that).

Sheffield Wednesday v MK Dons

Maybe.

More than two division difference (3 points)

Middlesbrough v Hastings United

The other massive seaside town from this area! This is more hope than belief. But Hastings have defied the odds already and while it is a massive massive gap, I have faith that they will get stuck in!

Lots of potential banana skins in this section, but in the interest of making it interesting how about relegation threatened Peterborough beating Premier League Norwich, who are in a bit of a poor spell of form.

Two division difference (2 points)

Crawley Town v Reading

Every year I pick Crawley for a shock, and they rarely disappoint. The nearest team to where I grew up, even if back then nobody actually knew they existed.

More than two division difference (3 points)

Cheltenham Town v Everton

As Gagsy has plumped for her local side for a major upset I'll do the same- Cheltenham are on the closest league sides to where I live (along with Swindon). I highly doubt they will win this, but they are on good form in the league and Everton will rest a lot of starters.

Interesting spread of scores this week. Ejit, at the bottom of the pack, gets the weekly high with a score of 6, whilst our top two get the joint lowest score of the week with 4. Everyone else scored 5. With a difference of 2 between the best and the worst scores, though, it means everything stays pretty much the same in the table.

At 1/3/13 09:48 AM, Sentio wrote:
So we are fast approaching the 'best' weekend in english football. For those teams in the competition and relishing a big money draw, I would agree, though for some of us it is a rare weekend with no football for their team :(.

Last year I set a challenge of who could pick the most/the biggest shock in the round. I'll post the list of fixtures, all you need to do is pluck out three games in which you feel a shock is on the cards. By shock, the winner must be at least a division below their opponent, or in the case of a Prem team one of the big four/five teams beaten by a relegation candidate (I'm looking at you Chelsea...).

Good idea, Sentio!

Brighton and Hove Albion v Newcastle United

This is a long way for them to travel, it could knock Newcastle out of sorts for this match.

At 1/8/13 03:51 AM, Dream-of-Duke wrote:
Just heard that Giodiola is planning to return next season, so guess that is it for Mancini.

I presume by that you mean Guardiola...

And these headlines today have surprised me a little. I thought it was common knowledge that he was only taking a season long break from management, and was coming back for next season. He's been linked with Chelsea for months, and now is being linked with City, United and Arsenal as well.

Either way I don't see Mancini staying at City beyond next season unless they win the league, but I'm far from confident Guardiola would go there. I have a sneaking suspicion that Ferguson is waiting to hand over the reigns to someone of a suitable calibre, and Guardiola would certainly fit the bill.

I will very optimistically predict scores, but I doubt all of the games will go ahead. The snow here in the westcountry is insane, lots of lower league games are already off (including Plymouth) and travel is near impossible.

Not a high scoring week, but I imagine it'll be higher scoring than this upcoming week. The only winner this week is Danny, who scores 6 and extends his lead at the top. Everyone else scores 3, which means that the only interesting activity in the table is that Ejit moves three points closer to Gagsy.